BONE SOUP

Finnigin the monster is something of an itinerant Eater, carrying his eating stool, spoon and, of course, “gigantic eating mouth” with him wherever he goes. When he happens upon a village populated by witches, ghouls and mummies, he finds his reputation precedes him, and the bogeys have stashed their yummies away. Finnigin’s a canny Eater, though, and he makes a show of whipping up a batch of bone soup, with results anyone familiar with the traditional tale of “Stone Soup” will recognize. Evans’s smiling, round-headed ghasts will terrify no one; the black-and-bile palette provides all the Halloween atmosphere young readers could desire. (Picture book. 4-8)